The Hanbury botanical garden

1 February 2014No Comment

If you happen to be near the borderline between Italy and France, and if you are a garden lover, do not miss the chance to visit the Hanbury botanical garden.

Located on the Capo Mortola promontory, it extends on a 18 hectars area, half of which is cultivated with both tropical and subtropical plants coming. They come from several zones on the planet where there is a Mediterranean climate.

The other half of the place contains self-vegetation which usually grows in the Mediterranean area. This is pretty curious actually, since the promontory as a very mild climate, especially in winter, when temperatures seldomly goes below 0°C (which means 32°F).

What is interesting about this botanic garden is its history: in 1867 Thomas Hanbury, who gave the name to the place, bought the ancient Orengo Palace and the land adjacent to it. Then he decided to transform it in a botanical garden, and his brother, who was a botanist, helped him.

In addition to this, he decided to contact the most brilliant architects in Europe, to give a great look to the garden. He added some embellishments and put fountains and statues and suddenly the place became very well known.

During WWII the place was damaged because of the explosions, that is why Hanbury’s daughter-in-law sold it to Italy. She wasn’t able to manage the garden anymore and decited to find someone who could take care it and make it blossom again.

Since 2000, the botanic garden, all fixed, is a nature reserve, and visitors can discover so many collections of papyruses, the Australian Wood, aloes, bamboos, plants, and exotic fruits.

Following several paths, you can enter to the main gate which is located near the beach, 103 meters above the sea level.
Are you ready to discover a small corner of Paradise between two countries?